December 12, 2025

Mayor Brockett and Members of Boulder City Council:

Better Boulder respectfully offers the following input on Council’s 2026 Retreat priorities.

Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Update

Better Boulder appreciates and supports the progress made to date on the current major update to the BVCP. The key priorities expressed in our letter to you dated July 15th, 2025, were:

  • Envision a bold, compelling, and realistic future for the Boulder Valley;
  • Improve regional planning for transportation, housing, and employment;
  • Update the BVCP to remove outdated regulatory barriers so this vision can be implemented; and
  • Increase transparency in governance, budgeting, and visioning.

Better Boulder will be supplying a more detailed letter separately on the proposed map changes. We look forward to receiving incremental updates and providing additional input as the process progresses.

Transportation

Better Boulder asks that Council remain steadfast in your commitment to the CAN, including moving forward with the decisions that have already been made.

We encourage Council to move forward with implementation of the Transportation Maintenance Fee, following outreach to the local business community regarding commercial fees.

We are excited that parking management has been moved from Community Vitality to Transportation, which provides opportunities to better align parking management with transportation goals.

Housing and Zoning

During the last year, Better Boulder has focused much of our attention on housing and zoning on the ongoing concerns about the availability of middle-income housing types in Boulder. We appreciate that our position paper, Creating Middle Income Housing, was well received and has generated productive discussions. We will be hosting a middle-income housing event on January 21, 2026 focused on taking these ideas into action, and hope that you all will be able to attend.

In addressing middle-income housing, we recommend focusing on:

  • Home ownership housing types (duplex, triplex, small multi-unit, patio homes) that are typically more affordable;
  • Opportunities for subsidies, deed restriction, regulation, future of publicly owned land (Area II Planning Reserve and other parcels), and revenue generation for these programs;
  • Continued updates to land-use regulation, zoning, process improvements, and accommodating ADUs, coops, and manufactured homes; and
  • Advocacy for support beyond Boulder’s borders (County, State, Federal) and the opportunity for solutions like community land trusts.
    We continue to advocate for public approaches that lead to vibrant neighborhoods, including:
  • Greater housing density near transit hubs and corridors;
  • Redevelopment of shopping centers with underused parking into mixed-use 15-minute neighborhoods with housing and daily services;
  • Continuing the Urban Services Study for Area III Planning Reserve to prepare for the BVCP update and potential annexation, with a priority focus on development of mixed-use neighborhoods with a high proportion (40-60%) of affordable housing;
  • Expediting planning and development for infill sites such as Alpine-Balsam, East Boulder, TVAP II, and CU South to densify the city’s urban core and connect with transit and services;
  • Incentivizing more affordable housing by reducing permitting fees and expediting the permitting process, including for ADUs;
  • Accelerating approvals and public financing tools (Metro District + TIF) to support cultural infrastructure, housing, and economic stimulus; and
  • Prioritizing infill over greenfield development.

Regulatory Process and Inclusionary Housing (IH)

Better Boulder applauds the progress that has been made in the affordable housing program thanks to the IH program, and recommends that the IH program remain dedicated to adding housing for households earning up to 80% AMI. We recognize that much remains to be done as rents outpace incomes in the 69.4% of jobs that pay in the range of the affordable program. We recommend that policy changes preserve the pace of affordable housing production.

As mentioned above, Better Boulder is supportive of revising permitting and regulatory policies to decrease the Total Development Cost (TDC) of middle income projects with the goals of incentivizing these projects and increasing their affordability. We recognize that TDC is impacted by IH fees. We support ongoing analysis (using outside consultants) to ensure these fees are appropriate for ever-changing market conditions.

Better Boulder also supports examining what legal and economically-viable mechanisms can be considered to discourage single-home ownership by outside investors. Luxury home, second home, and vacancy fees and/or taxes are ways to both generate revenue and encourage that homes be occupied by those who live and work in our city.

Thank you,
Better Boulder